| |
| |
Foreword | |
| |
| |
Introduction | |
| |
| |
About This Book | |
| |
| |
Conventions Used in This Book | |
| |
| |
Foolish Assumptions | |
| |
| |
How This Book Is Organized | |
| |
| |
Icons Used in This Book | |
| |
| |
Where to Go from Here | |
| |
| |
So You Want to Write for Pictures | |
| |
| |
An Introduction to the Art of Screenwriting | |
| |
| |
Thinking Visually | |
| |
| |
Developing the Writer's Mind | |
| |
| |
Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft | |
| |
| |
Finding Your Screenplay's Story | |
| |
| |
Working through the Writing Process | |
| |
| |
Formatting Your Screenplay | |
| |
| |
Constructing Your First Draft | |
| |
| |
Rewriting Your Script | |
| |
| |
Adapting Your Screenplay from an Outside Source | |
| |
| |
Selling Your Screenplay to Show Business | |
| |
| |
Preparing to Think Visually | |
| |
| |
Exploring Other Mediums | |
| |
| |
The Visual Life of a Screenplay | |
| |
| |
Diving Into the Screenwriter's Mind | |
| |
| |
Learning from Other Writers | |
| |
| |
Developing an Artistic Sensibility | |
| |
| |
Recognizing a Story When You See One | |
| |
| |
Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft | |
| |
| |
A Look at the Creative Process | |
| |
| |
Imagination: Your Creative Arsenal | |
| |
| |
Craft: A Vehicle for Your Imagination | |
| |
| |
Breaking Down the Elements of a Story | |
| |
| |
Unpacking Your Idea | |
| |
| |
I Have This Great Idea. Now What? | |
| |
| |
Getting to Know Your Audience | |
| |
| |
Knowing What Happened Before Your Story Began: Creating the Backstory | |
| |
| |
Identifying the Tone of Your Piece | |
| |
| |
Deciding When to Start Your Story | |
| |
| |
Getting to Know Aristotle: A Dramatist's Best Friend | |
| |
| |
What's It All About?: Writing a Nutshell Synopsis | |
| |
| |
Plot Part I: Beginnings | |
| |
| |
Enhancing Your Opening Images | |
| |
| |
Tracking Success: Five Compelling (and Contrasting) Movie Beginnings | |
| |
| |
Plot Part II: Middles | |
| |
| |
Deciding What Comes Next | |
| |
| |
From Lights to Camera to ... ACTION! | |
| |
| |
Status: Where's the Upper Hand? | |
| |
| |
What's Your Problem? Introducing Conflicts and Obstacles | |
| |
| |
Exposition: From Clunky to Creative | |
| |
| |
Determining What to Write from What You've Already Written | |
| |
| |
Continuing Success: Tracking Three Successful Movie Middles | |
| |
| |
Plot Part III: Endings | |
| |
| |
How Do You Know When You're Done? | |
| |
| |
Danger Will Robinson: Threats to an Otherwise Healthy Plot | |
| |
| |
Ultimate Success: Tracking Three Movies through Their Triumphant Conclusions | |
| |
| |
Character Building | |
| |
| |
Portrait of a Person: Constructing a Physical World | |
| |
| |
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Constructing an Internal World | |
| |
| |
From the Inside Out: Making the Inner World Visible | |
| |
| |
Say What? Constructing Dynamic Dialogue | |
| |
| |
Diction: What's in a Word? | |
| |
| |
Name That Tune: Crafting Your Character's Music | |
| |
| |
Putting It Together: Letting Your Characters Speak | |
| |
| |
Maintaining an Audience's Trust: A Screenwriter's Responsibility | |
| |
| |
Screenwriting and Ethics | |
| |
| |
Screenwriting and Responsibility | |
| |
| |
The Immunity Factor | |
| |
| |
Turning Your Story into a Script | |
| |
| |
Mapping Out Your Screenplay | |
| |
| |
Conceptualizing Your Concept | |
| |
| |
How to Treat Your Treatment | |
| |
| |
Exploring the Ins and Outs of an Outline | |
| |
| |
What to Do When the Outline's Through | |
| |
| |
Surviving Writer's Block | |
| |
| |
From Panic to Peace: Switching Mindsets | |
| |
| |
Reevaluating Your Routine | |
| |
| |
Seeking Outside Help | |
| |
| |
Formatting Your Screenplay | |
| |
| |
How the Screenplay Looks on the Page | |
| |
| |
Key Formatting Elements | |
| |
| |
A Sample Scene | |
| |
| |
Putting It Together: Structuring Your First Draft | |
| |
| |
Navigating the Three-Act Structure | |
| |
| |
Introductions | |
| |
| |
Salting the Wound | |
| |
| |
The Final Frontier | |
| |
| |
A Note on Subplots | |
| |
| |
Take Two: Rewriting Your Script | |
| |
| |
Downshifting between Drafts | |
| |
| |
Back in the Saddle Again: Rewrites | |
| |
| |
Finding a Reader | |
| |
| |
Your Critique: Surviving the Aftermath | |
| |
| |
Adaptation and Collaboration: Two Alternate Ways to Work | |
| |
| |
Navigating between Forms | |
| |
| |
The Process of Adaptation | |
| |
| |
The Art of Collaboration | |
| |
| |
Selling Your Script to Show Business | |
| |
| |
Before You Send It Out: Pre-Marketing Considerations | |
| |
| |
Understanding the "Biz" in Showbiz | |
| |
| |
Preparing Yourself for the Biz | |
| |
| |
Polishing the Copy You Send Out | |
| |
| |
Protecting Your Work | |
| |
| |
Getting Your Screenplay Noticed | |
| |
| |
Designing Your Own Package | |
| |
| |
Preparing to Pitch | |
| |
| |
Finding an Agent | |
| |
| |
Approaching an Agent | |
| |
| |
Pitching Your Script without an Agent | |
| |
| |
What to Do When They Say Yes | |
| |
| |
Looking Ahead: Upon Achieving Success | |
| |
| |
A Final Note | |
| |
| |
The Part of Tens | |
| |
| |
Ten Screenwriters You Should Know | |
| |
| |
William Goldman | |
| |
| |
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | |
| |
| |
Alan Ball | |
| |
| |
Nora Ephron | |
| |
| |
John Logan | |
| |
| |
Amy Holden Jones | |
| |
| |
M. Night Shyamalan | |
| |
| |
Callie Khouri | |
| |
| |
Christopher Nolan | |
| |
| |
Nia Vardalos | |
| |
| |
Ten Movies You Should See and/or Read | |
| |
| |
A Note on Criteria | |
| |
| |
Citizen Kane | |
| |
| |
The African Queen | |
| |
| |
Rear Window | |
| |
| |
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | |
| |
| |
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial | |
| |
| |
Ghost | |
| |
| |
Sling Blade | |
| |
| |
Life Is Beautiful | |
| |
| |
Shakespeare in Love | |
| |
| |
Signs | |
| |
| |
My Big Fat Greek Wedding | |
| |
| |
Ten Screenwriting Myths | |
| |
| |
Index | |